


Stars, and Dust

by kikkimax



Series: Stardust [2]
Category: NCIS, Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 00:00:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14007699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikkimax/pseuds/kikkimax
Summary: Eight years after the events of Stardust Daniel visits NCIS.





	Stars, and Dust

 

 

 

 

** Eight Years Later **

 

Ziva moved to the handrail as she stepped out of MTAC to wait for Gibbs and McGee.  As she surveyed the bullpen she noticed a lobby guard escorting a handsome man with a visitor’s badge from the elevator directly to DiNozzo’s desk.  “Who’s that?” she asked without turning her head toward the footsteps she knew to be McGee’s soft tread.

“I don’t know,” McGee answered, joining her at the rail.

“Come on, McGee,” Ziva encouraged.  With Tony gone most of the morning things had been a little too peaceful.  “Use your finely tuned detective skills.  Who _is_ this man?”

McGee gave her a longsuffering stare before eventually giving in.  “I suppose he could be a frat brother of Tony’s.”

“Hmm.  Okay, why?”

“First of all,” McGee continued gamely, “He’s got like a million of ‘em.  And this guy’s about the same age and it looks like they have the same expensive tastes in clothes.  That’s a nice suit.”

“Oh, yes.  That’s a nice everything,” Ziva agreed, smiling at McGee’s subtle eye roll.  She continued to appraise the stranger as he began to pick up and examine some of the odder items that graced Tony‘s work space, displaying an increasingly bewildered expression as he moved further in.  “And judging by his reaction to Tony’s toys he seems to be extremely intelligent.  Sexy _and_ brilliant.”

McGee snorted at the gentle goading.  “Well my finely tuned detective skills tell me it’s just the glasses that make him look smart.”

“It’s not the glasses,” Gibbs stated with an unreadable glance down at the visitor as he appeared between them as if out of nowhere.  If McGee‘s tread was soft, Gibbs‘ was almost imperceptible.  Bypassing them he heading straight for the stairs with his usual quick gait.

Ziva shared a look with McGee as they fell into step and followed a little slower for a mobile conference.  “It seems Gibbs knows this man as well.”

“Not a frat brother then.  Maybe an FBI agent or a cop.  Tony also knows a lot of them.”

“I did not detect a holster or a weapon,” Ziva disputed.

“And you would know that from the top of the...” McGee began to scoff before interrupting himself.  “Of course, you would.  What?  You would!”  McGee groused at the hard thump on the arm Ziva delivered for doubting her.  They arrived a few seconds after Gibbs who proceeded toward Tony’s guest.

“Doctor Jackson,” Gibbs greeted without a smile, holding out his right hand.

The man looked up guiltily and replaced Tony’s newest acquisition, a Doctor Ruth bobble head, to its position of honor next to the mouse pad.  When he focused on the person calling his name the man grinned sheepishly and came out from behind the desk.

“Daniel,” the man corrected as he reached for Gibbs’ extended hand.  “It’s good to see you again, Agent Gibbs.  It‘s been too long.”

“Doctor Daniel Jackson,” Ziva quietly made note to McGee.

“You look well,” Gibbs said, openly searching for any sign to the contrary on the other man‘s face as they shook hands.

“Thanks to you and your team,” Daniel returned earnestly as he allowed the examination, even turning his head slightly side to side for Gibbs‘ perusal.  They dropped their hands and stood in awkward silence for a moment, neither seeming to know what to say next.  There was something almost palpable just beneath the surface.

“Witness?  Or victim?“  Ziva mouthed to McGee who shrugged as he slid behind his computer.  He quickly opened the NCIS case file database and began to type in his query.

 “I understand Tony’s out?”  Daniel offered to break the uncomfortable standoff.

Gibbs chuckled unexpectedly as he leaned a hip against Tony‘s desk and settled in.  “I wouldn’t say that exactly, but he‘ll be back soon.”

Daniel pursed his lips slightly as he puzzled over Gibbs’ response.  He then coughed, laughed, and coughed again, turning a little red in the face.  “Oh... I, uh.  Yeah.  About that...”  He failed to finish the thought but looked at Gibbs beseechingly.

“Sorry,” Gibbs smirked, breaking one of his favorite rules.  He waved a hand and repeated more sincerely.  “Sorry, I shouldn‘t have...”

“No, it’s... it’s fine,” Daniel assured, looking anything but at ease with the stilted conversation.

“This is painful to watch,” Ziva whispered with a wince.

McGee stopped to stare as well until Ziva made inconspicuous ‘get on with it’ motions as she knelt next to him to read over his shoulder.  He found the file and opened it but the computer seemed to stall for a moment.

“So,” Daniel stopped and cleared his throat.  “You and...”

“No.”  Gibbs shook his head somewhat wistfully.  “Rule number twelve.”

“Rule twelve?  But that’s never date a co-...”  McGee grunted as Ziva elbowed him in the ribs and shushed him.

“I see.”  Daniel nodded.  “I have no idea what that means.  Is that a Navy thing?”

“So much for intelligent,” McGee jeered as the file finally began to open.  “Here we go.”  Nothing happened for another second then the screen went crazy with cartoon bombs exploding along with blaring sirens.  McGee turned off the sound as fast as his hand would move.

Gibbs sent a frown McGee‘s way but continued the conversation as McGee sunk further into his chair and tried to shut down the program that had taken over his computer. 

“Tony can explain it to you.”

“So if you’re not then you don’t mind if _I_...”

Daniel left the question unfinished but Gibbs certainly understood.  His jaw set to the point Ziva thought he might break a tooth. 

“Not at all,” Gibbs lied.  Ziva narrowed her eyes at him while McGee pounded on his keyboard in increasing desperation.

“Great!  I can’t wait to see him,” Daniel said with a smile that quickly faded under Gibbs’ thinly veiled displeasure.  And then the uncomfortable silence was back, only much worse compounded by a Gibbs stare.

“McGee,” McGee answered his phone frenetically as he continued in vain to try and stop the explosions on his monitor.  “Abby?  What?...  Yes I did... _You_ flagged this file?... But there’s nothing in it...  No... I... because he’s... no, because he’s standing right here... Yes, really... What‘d you do to my computer?  Abby?  Abby?”  McGee hung up the phone in confusion and turned to Ziva.  “There’s nothing in the file,” he repeated.  “But Abby flagged it in case anyone tried to access it.”

“Why?”

“All she said was ‘reboot‘ before she hung up on me.”  McGee stabbed a finger at the computer in defeat and shut down the whole system.

“Curious,” Ziva noted.  Definitely a case.  But Gibbs was acting like it was something personal.  Then again, he took every case personally, that’s what made him so good.

Cracking under the weight of Gibbs scrutiny Daniel launched into a seemingly unrelated monologue.  “Jack’s a General now, he’s at the Pentagon for, uh, top secret... stuff,” he lowered his voice, aware they might have an audience.

Gibbs harrumphed.  “I’ll bet.”

“Anyway, I’ve been hanging around DC for about a month to help with... stuff... and I thought it was high time I caught up with you guys.  Where’s Kate?”   Daniel asked, looking around for her, obviously hoping for a friendly face.  “Does she still work here?”

Ziva and McGee looked at each other again then to Gibbs, eyes wide.

“Kate was killed in the line of duty a while back,” Gibbs explained quietly as he got up and moved away, his ire evaporating like the graphic bombs on McGee‘s computer screen.

“Oh.”  Daniel looked strickened as he took Gibbs’ place on the edge of Tony’s desk.  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“In case you missed all the whispering and gawking, this is the rest of my team,” Gibbs introduced as he sat in his own chair.  “Special Agent Tim McGee, and our probationary agent, Ziva David.”

Daniel stood and gave a slight bow to each of them as he spoke but his grief for Kate still showed on his face.  “Hello, Agent McGee.  Agent David, shalom.”

“Not as clueless I as thought,” Ziva muttered to McGee as she fingered the Star of David on the chain around her neck and smiled back at Daniel.  “Shalom, Doctor Jackson.”

“Selectively clueless,” Daniel assured her magnanimously.  “And please, call me Daniel.”

“And apparently not deaf in spite of old injuries,” Gibbs added.  “And of course, you know...”

“John!” 

“Ooph!”  Daniel exclaimed as he was hit by a black-clad missile.

“...Abby Sciuto, our forensic scientist.”

“John?”  McGee turned his head sideways and squinted, thinking hard.  “John.  John Doe.  Of course!”

“You know the case?” Ziva asked, more than ready to be filled in on all the details.

“Yeah, yeah, I know _about_ it, but I wasn’t a full-time field agent yet.”

“Abs, let the man breath,” Gibbs instructed, turning to his own computer and getting back to work.

“Hi, Abby,” Daniel finally managed, holding on to her as if he had a choice.

“Hi, John.  I mean Daniel.  I can still call you John, right?  Where‘s Tony?”  Abby squeezed one last time before letting him slip almost to arm’s length so she could gaze into his face.  “Tony was right, you are even more beautiful in person.”

“He said that!?” Daniel objected, looking most scandalized.

“Well, he didn’t actually _use_ the word beautiful, I did.  But he didn’t disagree,” Abby explained in a rush of words.  “And Tony has always had a thing for blue eyes.”

Gibbs’ head shot up to glare at everyone suddenly staring at him.  “Abby.”

“I didn’t mean Gibbs,” Abby denied as McGee and Ziva suddenly found McGee‘s blank computer screen of great interest.  “Necessarily,” she added conspiratorially to Daniel under her breath.

Now Gibbs looked more than scandalized.  He looked ready to tape Abby’s mouth shut Ziva thought to herself.  Funny, she had never noticed Tony’s penchant for blue eyes. 

“Abby, why don’t you show Doctor Jackson around until Tony gets back,” Gibbs suggested a little gruffly.

“Good idea, Boss Man, we’ll start with the morgue.  Ducky is dying to meet you.  No pun intended.”  Abby released Daniel from her tight grip and threaded her arm through his instead.  “You must work out a lot!” she said as she rubbed his bicep while turning him around toward the back elevator. 

“It was nice to meet you,” Daniel called back over his shoulder as she pulled him away, swept up in Hurricane Abigail.

McGee seemed okay as he watched them go but just as he turned his computer back on Abby exclaimed loudly “Oh!  I never got to show you the rest of my tats!  Lets go to my lab.”

“Um, boss...” McGee requested urgently.

“Go on,” Gibbs sighed as he rubbed his eyes.  “But I’m pretty sure they don’t need a chaperone.”

“You trust Abby to be professional,” Ziva offered as she finally zeroed in on the emotion practically exuding from Gibbs since he first recognized Tony‘s visitor:  jealousy.

Gibbs snorted.  “No, but I trust Doctor Jackson to keep her in line.”

Ziva sank into McGee’s abandoned chair.  “So Tony’s friend is a doctor,” she questioned, determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of the disappeared case file and more importantly Gibbs‘ unusual demeanor.

“Of Archeology,” Gibbs supplied succinctly.  “He works for the Air Force.”

Ziva thought to hide her surprise but of course Gibbs would see right through her, just as she did him.  “Doing what?”

“That’s way above my pay grade,” Gibbs told her pointedly before sending her a chilly glance from the aforementioned blue eyes.  “Don’t you have something to do?”

“Yes, I do.”  Ziva got up and headed to her own desk already deciding which of her contacts might know something of the mysterious Doctor Daniel Jackson.  Or what he might possess that put that look of longing in Gibbs‘ eyes. 

“Ziva,” Gibbs stopped all pretense of work and cautioned, “Leave this alone.  If you want to know about the case just ask.”

“I‘m asking.”

“Not much to tell,” Gibbs said as he stood.  “There were a couple dead marines and a live John Doe.  The Air Force shut us down before we got anywhere.”

Ziva toyed with a pen as she watched him holster his weapon and grab his jacket.  “And that is fine with you?”

“No, but like I said, it’s _way_ above my pay grade,” Gibbs growled on his way out.

Ziva watched him go but as she reached for the phone he called back to her.  “Don’t do it.”  To avoid Gibbs’ wrath, she would ask Tony for the details.

 

***

 

McGee watched the interaction between Abby and John, or um, Daniel as he had corrected her time and time again, with great interest.  Abby clearly adored the man even if she couldn’t get his name right.  Knowing Abby though McGee was sure the gaffe was an intentional game a lot like the ones she played with Gibbs, mischievously testing the limits.

“The only thing Abby wanted to know was if I had any ‘tats’,” Daniel teased while leaning his forearms on the autopsy table apparently oblivious to its everyday use, to face off against Abby who mirrored him on the other side.  Her eyes fairly twinkled as she accepted the challenge.

Ducky gave McGee a knowing look, obviously enjoying the banter.

“Not true!” Abby denied emphatically while trying to hide a silly grin.  “I’m pretty sure I wanted to know who you were, you know, before I asked about body art.  And don’t look at me that way, John.  I only asked about tattoos to help identify you.  I am a _serious_ scientist.”

Apparently giving up Daniel let the ‘John’ pass without comment this time.  “Right,” he said instead and McGee was impressed with how much skepticism the man could fit into one little word.

“No, no, it’s true,” Ducky chimed in.  “Tattoos can be quite useful for identification purposes.  As can scars, birthmarks, and other various body anomalies.  Only last month we had a poor fellow whose face was severely crushed in an unfortunate pedestrian versus automobile accident.  Even though he was completely nude at the time, not even wearing dog tags as it were...”

“Wait a minute,” Daniel cut in. “He was jogging nude?”

“He was streaking,” Abby told him with a shrug.  “I know, I know, streaking should have died in the seventies.  Retro is not always chic.”

“As I was saying,” Ducky continued, “A bystander was able to make a tentative identification at the scene after a simple viewing of a tattoo on his shoulder of a cartoon cat wearing sunglasses of all things.”

“Chester Cheetah,” McGee provided but received only a perplexed raised eyebrow from Daniel.

“There was a caption above and below.  ‘It ain’t easy - being sleazy‘,” Ducky quoted pronouncing each syllable with his usual care, pointing along in the air with his forefinger to indicate the placement of the words around Chester.  “Of course, we followed up with fingerprints which confirmed the young man’s identity.  We autopsied him here on this very table.”

Abby grinned even wider as Daniel slowly withdrew his arms, staring at the shiny stainless steel like it was a snake.  McGee allowed himself a little smile as he nodded his head.  Doctor Jackson might be brilliant and sexy, but even he was grossed out by autopsy.

 

***

 

Tony checked his cell again as he waited for the elevator but there was still no message.  He punched speed dial.  “It’s me again.  Where are you?”  He wasn’t worried.  Not at all.

He pocketed the phone when the ding signaled the elevator’s arrival.  As the doors opened he found himself face to face with an agitated Gibbs, possibly on a coffee run.  And how all that caffeine actually calmed him down was a total mystery to Tony.  But hey, it worked.  And an un-caffeinated Gibbs could be a downright dangerous thing.

“Hey, boss,” Tony said, stepping aside to allow Gibbs to exit.  Instead Gibbs grabbed him by the lapel and pulled him inside.  Tony stumbled into the corner while Gibbs slapped the close button. 

“Hold the elevator!” Palmer exclaimed as he rushed up to the door with an armload of takeout bags.  Ducky did love the occasional Chinese feast down in autopsy. 

“Occupied,” Gibbs barked at him.

“Yes, sir, I mean, uh, Agent Gibbs,” Palmer stuttered.  “I’ll, uh, I’ll just take the...”  The door closed before he could get the last word out.

“Stairs,” Tony finished for him.

“Not boss,” Gibbs said without preamble as he hit the magic button that turned the elevator into his own private office.  “Not for this conversation.”

“Did I do something?” Tony asked, mentally going over anything he might have said or done to piss Gibbs off.  He’d actually been pretty tame lately.  At least at work.

“I just want you to know, I have thought about it.  More than I care to admit,” Gibbs told him while carefully studying the control panel. 

Even though he had no idea what _it_ was, Tony could tell this was a monumental talk for Gibbs.  Huge. 

Tony’s eyes went wide as he suddenly found himself pinned to the wall by his determined boss.  Except not for this... conversation?  This didn’t feel like a conversation.  This felt like Gibbs was going to punch him.  Or kiss him.

“I’m not going to be your boss forever, Tony.” 

Gibbs stared into his eyes from only inches away and Tony could feel his breath on his face.  And all Tony could think was he wished he hadn’t had the onion on his cheeseburger.  Because he was pretty sure Gibbs wasn’t going to punch him.  They stood there for a thirty second eternity. 

Tony finally found some words but to his own ears they sounded breathy and... just really breathy.  “Are you going somewhere?”  He couldn’t even imagine what Gibbs was thinking about his unintentional Marilyn Monroe imitation.

“No.  Not for a while,” Gibbs assured him softly.  And Gibbs never assured him of anything.  Especially not in _that_ voice.  That... that... _breathy_ voice!  Maybe the elevator was running out of air.  Tony wanted to look around except he wouldn’t be able to see if the air was gone anyway and more importantly Gibbs was holding him hostage with his eyes alone.  His cool blue eyes.

But Gibbs was still talking and Tony made himself focus.  “I just wanted you to know that someday...  Just, someday.  Do you understand?” 

“Not even a little bit,” Tony managed to say.  And where the hell did all the air go anyway?

Then Gibbs did something completely un-Gibbs-like.  He patted Tony’s cheek affectionately, and true, he had done that on occasion, but then he rubbed his thumb across Tony’s lower lip and lingered there.  And _then_ he smiled while staring at Tony‘s mouth.  And not just any smile, but _the_ smile.  The smile he reserved for rare steaks and hot redheads.  But mostly redheads.

“What?” Tony gasped, deciding air was for wimps anyway.

Gibbs smiled a little bigger.  “Nothing.  I was just thinking about whisker burn.”

“Whisker burn,” Tony echoed in a whisper.  He swallowed the lump in his throat.  “Oh.”  Oh!   His heart jumped into high gear and his mouth went dry.  Gibbs wanted him.

“Yeah.  Oh,” Gibbs teased with a sexy little smirk before turning serious.  “Just be patient.”

“And in the meantime?”  Tony had to ask because he got it, he really, really did but he didn’t want to do anything to disappoint Gibbs, especially not that way, but he was still a DiNozzo and DiNozzos had a penchant for screwing up.  Literally.

“Have fun,” Gibbs urged after a moment of thought.  And then he was out of Tony’s personal space leaving him rumpled and holding on to the wall and the doors were once again open.  “Just not too much fun,” Gibbs added on his way out.

“Damn onions,” Tony exclaimed as he took in lungs full of the sweet, sweet air that seemed to rush into the elevator.  Along with Palmer.  “I thought you were taking the stairs,” Tony breathed, but not breathily.

Palmer just grinned over the top of a bag that smelled suspiciously like Moo Goo.

“Shut up,” Tony laughed as he straightened up and straightened his tie at the same time.  Good thing Palmer could keep a secret.

 

***

 

“Tony,” Ziva greeted with a cat that ate the canary grin as Tony settled in at his desk. 

Since there was no way she could know about the near miss in the elevator and Gibbs declaration of... whatever the hell it had been Tony felt reasonably safe.  Except this was Ziva.  “What?” he questioned suspiciously.  He stopped and stared at his desk then repositioned the bobble head.  Someone had moved it.  He could tell.

“I met a friend of yours,” Ziva said, getting up to cross to his desk.

“I’ve got a lot of friends,” Tony grumbled as he went over his most recent conquests in his head but there really weren’t any since... Crap.  He carefully schooled his features and didn’t let the crap comment in his head slip out of his lips.  The timing of Gibbs‘ little revelation suddenly made

sense.  “You’re going to have to narrow it down a little.”

“Lovely blue eyes, perfect skin,” Ziva began dreamily.

“Sheila?  Rachel?  Cindy?” Tony threw out some random names in rapid-fire as he continued to straighten his desk.  Who would touch everything?  Right.  Who else.  That was the final clue he needed.  Gibbs‘ reaction, Ziva meeting a friend, excess touching of basically everything.

“Broad chest, nice biceps,” Ziva continued.

Tony stopped and looked up with a worried expression.  “Lauren?  Look, I’m not usually into body builders but Lauren is really supple to be so bulked up.  Bendy even.”

“It’s not a woman, Tony,” Ziva finally broke, frustrated with his game.  DiNozzo one, David zero.  “It’s a John Doe from a case you worked before Kate... was killed.  Someone erased all the files.  Is that ringing any alarms?”

“It’s bells, not alarms.  And yes, it rings a whole Christmas bell chorus.  You met Daniel?  When?  Where?” Tony asked with as much surprise as he could fake.  He already knew if he dusted his desk he’d find sticky little archeologist fingerprints all over it.

“Now.  Here.  He is very handsome,” Ziva gave her cute little wrinkled nose approval.  “Abby is showing him around.”

“Yeah, Abby was a little smitten if I recall,” Tony grinned and left out the part about her not being the only one.  “And then _they_ came and took him away before she could meet him in person.  She was miffed.” 

Ziva went serious and had a troubled look on her face.  “Gibbs told me not to dig into this case.”

“That’s excellent advice,” Tony agreed quickly. 

“Then tell me about it,” Ziva urged. 

He didn‘t need Ziva poking around so he gave in with the whitewash version.  “Okay, once upon a time there were three dead guys, well done.  I mean really well done.  Roasted even.“

“And one of them was a Marine, yes, yes, I know.”

“Two.”

“What?”

“Two Marines.”

Ziva huffed.  “Yes, two dead Marines, but what of Doctor Jackson?“

“Well we didn’t know who he was at first,” Tony explained.  “He had been kidnapped, tortured, and suffered some sort of transient amnesia.  We collected him, lost him to the bad guys, and then his friends came and got him back.  Oh, and they also took every shred of proof any of it ever happened.”

“You lost him?” Ziva seemed to ponder that.  “Is that why Gibbs is so bothered about this?”

“It wasn’t our finest hour.”  It really wasn’t but Tony suspected that wasn‘t all that was bothering Gibbs.  “Case closed.  Whether we liked it or not.  We still don‘t know what really happened and I suspect Daniel is not gonna tell us.”

“I could make some inquiries,” Ziva offered.  “Very discrete.”

“Yeah, well, ask Abby first about the black ops team that tore her lab apart for all the physical evidence,” Tony cautioned.  “Why do you care so much?  You weren’t even here.”

Ziva shook her head.  “I don’t know.  I don’t like a mystery, I suppose.”

“But this is a very hush-hush official mystery.  This is beyond top secret.  Mess with this and you might get an official invite to exit the country, new citizen or not.  Capisce?”

“Si.”  Ziva sighed in defeat and returned to her desk. 

DiNozzo two.  He hoped.  “And don’t speak Italian around Daniel.  He knows more languages than you do.  He‘s a linguist.”

Ziva slumped into her chair.  “I thought he was an archeologist?”

“Archeologist, linguist, whatever.”  Tony finally got his desk back in shape.  He smiled as he bobbled Dr. Ruth’s head with a fingertip.

“And what does an archeologist, linguist, whatever do for the Air Force?” Ziva asked but when Tony looked up he realized she wasn’t talking to him.

“A little of this, a little of that,” Daniel answered inexplicably as ever while Abby hung off his arm, beaming.  Behind them McGee sunk into his own seat gloomily. 

“Daniel.”  Tony got up and grinned in spite of the fact he’d been stood up for lunch in exchange for a tour of NCIS.

“Hey, Tony.”  Daniel said, holding out a hand as Tony approached. 

Tony brushed away the hand and gave him a hug instead, giving Abby just enough time to extricate herself from Daniel’s arm without getting crushed between them.  Knowing Abby, she would enjoy it though.  If they lingered a few seconds no one seemed to notice since they covered with manly pounding of each other’s back.

“I knew you guys had a special bond,” Abby announced as she wiggled back into the middle, wrapping an arm around each of them.  “I knew it.”

“Tony saved my life,” Daniel explained, ignoring Tony‘s ‘shut up now‘ eyes.

“You conveniently left out that part of the story,” Ziva jumped right on it.

“Because I didn’t save his life,” Tony denied.  “I just sort of got kidnapped along with him.”

“Tony handcuffed himself to me and then threw away the key so they would have to take him, too.  Or take the time to cut off his arm.”

“Ouch,” Tony winced.  “I never even thought of that.  Thank you so much for the visual.”

“You’re welcome,” Daniel said brightly.  “Lunch?”

 

***

 

“Bout time you showed up,” Daniel muttered as soon as the elevator doors closed, looking up at Tony from under his lashes.  It had taken nearly ten minutes to extricate him from Abby and he seemed to be full of himself from all the fawning.

“Yeah,” Tony huffed.  He couldn’t decide if he should be pissed or not.  Lucky for Daniel he couldn‘t stay mad at him, at least not with the eyelash thing going on, because it really was very cute.  Tony kept up the pretense of annoyance anyway.

“I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch but he never showed.  Instead he went to my workplace and instituted a cockamamie plan to get the man I’ve been secretly in love with forever to make a move.  Meanwhile I sat alone like an idiot in a fancy restaurant until it was too late to order anything without facing the wrath of Gibbs for being late.  I had to eat a burger in the car on the way back.”

Daniel pulled a face.  “Sounds like you have terrible taste in friends,” he mocked.  Apparently, there was no remorse in him. 

Tony respected that so he dropped the act.  “Maybe, but some of them are diabolical geniuses.  Evil masterminds if you will.”

“Hey, it ain’t easy being sleazy.”

Tony gave in and laughed.  “Aw Ducky.  He’s worked that reference into every discussion he’s had for the last two weeks.  Personally I think he just likes to say ‘ain’t‘.”

“I was the same way with the word shit,” Daniel observed wryly.  “Of course, I was six at the time.  But I could say it in eleven languages.  So did he?”

Tony did a double take when he really looked at Daniel.  “Did who what?”

“Gibbs.  Did he make a move?”

“Sort of,” Tony hedged as he continued to eye his friend.  “Nice tie,” he finally said.

“Thanks.  It’s yours.”

“I noticed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about Kate?” Daniel asked, the light banter disappearing suddenly.

Sucker punched, Tony let out a breath.  He took a page out of Gibbs’ playbook and hit the switch lurching the elevator to a stop.  “Sorry, I meant tell you.  I would have.”

“We’ve seen each other almost every day for a month.”

“I know.  Look, I really don’t like to think about it.  I guess I didn’t want to bring down this thing we’ve got going with bad news.”

Daniel nodded thoughtfully.  “She was a nice lady,” he said.

“Sure.  Nice,” Tony agreed acerbically, half-joking to take the sting out of the conversation.  He knew Kate would have approved.  Daniel obviously didn’t so Tony changed the subject.  “What’d you say to Gibbs?”

“Nothing.  But I do think he recognized your tie and put two and two together,” Daniel reasoned. 

“Right, and you certainly didn‘t plan it that way,” Tony accused, “You evil mastermind, you.”

“What’d he do?”  Daniel asked, neither admitting or denying.

“He told me to be patient,” Tony said with a fond smile.

Daniel smiled back sadly.  “Yeah, Jack’s been telling me the same thing for years.  What do we do about it?”

Tony shrugged.  “We turn up the heat?”

“Dinner?”

“You, me, and Jack?”  Tony decided as he punched the button and started the elevator again.  “I have standing reservations at Angelo’s.  Around eight?”

Daniel nodded approvingly.  “Why not?  Bring Gibbs.  We can work on both of them.”

The elevator arrived and the opening door found a reticent Gibbs with a large cup of coffee.  “Going somewhere, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked.

“Back to work, boss,” Tony answered with a hundred watt-smile as he put out a hand and kept the door open as Gibbs and Daniel traded places.

“See you tonight,” Daniel told Tony with an impish wink.  “Bye, Agent Gibbs.”

“Doctor Jackson.”

“Are you ever gonna call me Daniel?” Daniel asked.

“Nope.”

“We’ve been invited to dinner,” Tony told Gibbs.  “Angelo’s.  You in?”

“Sure,” Gibbs said without breaking eye contact with Daniel.  “I love Italian.”

Daniel huffed a laugh and waved as he turned around to go.  “See you tonight,” he repeated.

“Doctor Jackson,” Gibbs called him back.

“Yeah?”

Gibbs handed over his coffee.

“Uh... Thanks?”

“I’m gonna need both hands for a minute,” Gibbs explained as the doors closed.

Daniel grinned ear to ear as he walked away drinking his coffee.

 

The End


End file.
